Objects & Places from When the Emperor Was Divine: A Novel

Berkeley, California

This town is located northeast of San Francisco across San Francisco Bay and is where the novel begins.

Evacuation Order No. 19

This is the title of the signs the mother sees all over the town of Berkeley that prompt her to go home and begin packing. The order states that all Japanese must report to a Civil Control Station on a specified date.

Tanforan Racetrack

This site located south of San Francisco, California, held Japanese-Americans before they were sent to other internment camps. The mother, daughter, and son are held there for four and a half months.

Lordsburg, New Mexico

In this southwestern town, the U.S. Army operated an internment camp for Japanese -Americans and captured German and Italian soldiers. The father in this novel is held there, and he often sends letters and postcards from this location.